Editor's note: Coraline tops out the list with a total of 10 nominations announced for the 37th Annual Annie Awards.

Press Release from The International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood

BURBANK, Calif., Dec. 1 - The International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood, announced nominations today for its 37th Annual Annie Awards recognizing the year's best animated features, television productions, commercials, short subjects and outstanding individual achievements in the field of animation. Walt Disney Animation Studios' *"The Princess and the Frog"* received eight nominations, including Best Animated Feature and individual nominations for animated effects, character animation, production design and voice acting, while its *"Prep and Landing" *received nine nominations including Best Animated Television Production and individual nominations for character animation, character design, music, production design, storyboarding and writing.

DreamWorks Animation received 11 nominations, including Best Animated Television Production for "Merry Madagascar." Laika received a total of 10 nominations including Best Animated Feature "Coraline" and Pixar Animation Studios received a total of nine nominations including Best Animated Feature "Up." Completing the list of Best Animated Features nominated are: "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs," Sony Pictures Animation, "Fantastic Mr. Fox," 20th Century Fox and "The Secret of Kells," Cartoon Saloon.

Nickelodeon leads the field in television with 12 nominations, including three for Best Animated Television Production Produced for Children: "SpongeBob SquarePants," "The Mighty B!," and "The Penguins of Madagascar." Completing the nominations in this category are Disney Television's "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" and Cartoon Network Studio's "The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack." Nominees for the Best Animated Television Production are "Glenn Martin, DDS," Torante, Cuppa Coffee Studios & Rogers Communications, "Merry Madagascar," DreamWorks Animation, "Prep and Landing," ABC Family/Walt Disney Animation Studios, and "The Simpsons," Gracie Films.

Winners will be announced at the 37th Annual Annie Awards ceremony on Saturday, February 6, 2010, at UCLA's Royce Hall, in Los Angeles, CA. *For a complete listing of Annie Award nominations and event information, please go to www.annieawards.org.

Special juried awards honoring career achievement and exceptional contributions to animation will also be awarded: * Winsor McCay award* - Tim Burton, Bruce Timm and Jeffrey Katzenberg for career contributions to the art of animation; *June Foray award* - Tom Sito for significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the art and industry of animation; *Ub Iwerks award -* William T. Reeves for the development of particle systems for computer animation; *Special Achievement Annie award -* Martin Meunier and Brian McLean for the development and use of the Rapid Prototyping (RP) process for stop motion animation; and 

*Certificate of Merit award* - Myles Mikulic, Danny Young and Michael Woodside for their service to the art, craft and industry of animation.

For up-to-the-minute information on the 37th Annual Annie Awards, please visit www.annieawards.org

The industry's oldest and most prestigious award, The Annie Award is considered an important industry benchmark and an annual predictor of the Academy Award for best animated feature.

*PRODUCTION CATEGORIES

Best Animated Feature

* Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs — Sony Pictures Animation

* Coraline — Laika

* Fantastic Mr. Fox — 20th Century Fox

* The Princess and the Frog — Walt Disney Animation Studios

* The Secret of Kells — Cartoon Saloon

* Up — Pixar Animation Studios

Best Home Entertainment Production

* Curious George: A Very Monkey Christmas — Universal Animation Studios

* Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder — The Curiosity Company in association with 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

* Green Latern: First Flight — Warner Bros. Animation

* Open Season 2 — Sony Pictures Animation

* SpongeBob vs. The Big One — Nickelodeon

Best Animated Short Subject

* Pups of Liberty — Picnic Pictures

* Robot Chicken: Star Wars 2.5 — ShadowMachine

* Santa, The Fascist Years — Plymptoons